Birmingham Moseley 13-11 Caldy

[Communications Team]

by Glyn Barlow

This Saturday Birmingham Moseley look to extend their unbeaten run to 4 games, a feat not achieved since 5th November of last year, when they host Caldy for the first time at the Common.

Founded in 1924 the Cheshire club won promotion to National One last season, their highest ever league standing, by being outright winners of National Two North, winning 27 of their 30 games and amassing over 1,000 points scored, picking up 21 try bonus points along the way. During the promotion season wing Nick Royle led the way with 30 tries while Jack Lavin picked up 378 points. Royle has stayed with Caldy this season while England Counties fly half/centre Lavin moved to Esher, unfortunately incurring a broken neck in pre-season training. Thankfully Lavin is looking to make a full recovery.

As part of their preparation for life at a higher level Caldy have brought in Fylde second row Nick Grey, back row Nyle Davidson from Macclesfield, scrum half Chris Pilgrim from Yorkshire Carnegie, fly Half Mark Dixon from Loughborough Students and Joe Doyle a centre from London Scottish. A familiar face to for Birmingham Moseley supporters is fly half Richard Vasey who made 27 appearances in red and black during the 2008/9 season scoring 148 points, including being a travelling reserve for the club’s EDF cup win at Twickenham.

The visitors arrive here off the back of a narrow 27-26 win over Hull Ionians, following a series of very tough fixtures which sees the team having to go back to the 16th September for their previous victory against Loughborough Students 26-31. Their only other success this season came the previous weekend against Fylde 37-19.

Along the way the team have suffered heavy reversals against Bishop’s Stortford 49-26, Plymouth Albion 17-34, Ampthill 22-39 and Coventry 38-14 to leave them currently in twelfth place on 22 league points. While the team has been relatively successful in scoring points, having amassed just 11 less than Birmingham Moseley, their 342 against is currently the fourth highest in the league.

For Birmingham Moseley there will be a need to hit the ground running, having enjoyed a well-earned weekend off following a hard fought win at Cambridge. A real plus point from the encounter will be the defensive performance that held back sustained Cambridge pressure. The team will be frustrated to have let slip an 80th minute try, in what was otherwise an exemplary defensive effort.



In order to keep the momentum of upward league progression going this is a game Birmingham Moseley must win by giving 100% effort and concentration. Now is the time to banish the poor home performances of recent months and start to give the faithful Billesley home crowd something to cheer about.

[Communications Team]

[Phil]

[grooveavenue]

Addin' a few ounces then!

[CJB1]

With only one back on the bench, I hope Nos 9-15 are adept at staying out of harm's way.

[kingsheathlad]

Sam Pointon can play in three different positions according to profile but not at the same time.😀

[andyj]

I also have concerns with only one back on the bench. I have never liked the restriction of only 5 subs.

[londonexile]

Having seen Ciaran Moore's try against Esher, I reckon he could cover either wing or centre. He reminded me a bit of Ellery who used to play no.8 for us and is now a winger for Sarries.

[notanotherjohn]

13-11 (3-3 HT)

Horribly scrappy game. Bet the Caldy player who got red for dissent gets some stick from teammates. Surely cost them the match.

[kingsheathlad]

Very ordinary performance I'm afraid. We could have lost that game. They had a penalty which hit the post, missed a easy conversion and right at the death an attempted drop goal from in front of the posts outside the 22 was splendidly charged down by Buster. Molenaar and Penn had good games in imo.

[CJB1]

I dunno, sometimes it feels like we play down to the level of modest opposition, witness also the way we made heavy weather of beating Fylde. Too many handling errors and poor passes today, losing the ball in good positions and finding ourselves suddenly 40 metres back. Thankfully our scramble defence held them out, and Buster saved the match with that superb charge down. Nobody puts their body on the line quite the way he does. And with due respect to Andrew Shuker, I think we know who our best 10 is, and we missed him today.

Old Elthamians lost today and are now seven points adrift of us. But they're another unknown quantity, and are doing OK for a team new to this level. We'll have to work hard to earn a win. But four on the trot is what the results say we have, and that is what counts in the end.

[andyj]

Can’t help but agree with CJB1.
After what I thought was Mose’s most complete performance this season against Loughborough earlier this month I have to say yesterday was the most inept.
There were some individual outstanding contributions - Buster, as always, Tim, Mike and Chris but we looked lost as a team for large parts of the game.
Caldy were very physical and some of their tactics were unfortunately rather basic and we seemed unable to rise above this. Our line out once again misfired with lost possession in several attacking positions. This is very frustrating and had we capitalised on even half of these we could have been out of sight rather than hanging on with Buster’s timely intervention on what could have been a winning drop goal.
I fully expect a much better performance next week which will make the journey worth it.

[grooveavenue]

.........and of course Caldy hit the bar twice!

Yes, too many handling errors in promising positions for any ones liking.

I was surprised it turned out with us just hanging on. Sometimes BHam Mose take more regard of a fear of the opposition rather than concerning themselves with their own game. It was also sad that we could not turn what seemed an unusually high intensity pre-match warm up session into the 80 minutes of match play. Some good displays from the usual ones. Caldy never gave up and no doubt will disappointed at leaving without a victory. However its 4 in a row -lets make it 5 next week!!

[notanotherjohn]

Comms team - 13-11 for the updated title for the thread. That drop goal attempt would have been a winner for the visitors.

[martinwatson aka Camera Shake]

In case you missed it....

[Westcountry Mose]

I agree Martin. If one of our backs had run from where Buster started and dotted down under the posts we would all be salivating and saying on balance that we deserved the win. I thought Buster was the difference between the sides on Saturday and not just because of the charge down.

[welshexile1963]

A wins a win but we were lucky and very sloppy!!! Well done to Cavesy on his 350th appearance!

[kingsheathlad]

They lost five points with those missed kicks hitting post and they nearly scored a try in second half when the ball went touch in goal when it looked as though their player would score.

[philhall]

I wasn't at the Caldy match and have noticed all the comments about a poor performance. And yet looking at Camera Shakes highlights of the game Moseley seemed to play a decent game with some strong defending in the second half. And someone up 't club told me that it took till the 75th minute for Moseley to win a line out yet the highlights show Moseley winning their own line out early in the first half.

And when Mark Harrison made a good break, tracked across the field looking for support but there was no one available to pass to - which comes down to support play. Mind you having seen Mark's break I was a bit surprised he didn't just put his head down and go for the corner, I feel sure he would nave got there himself. And then on another break there was some good support with inter passing but the ball was knocked on with the line bagging. Better to make a break, support the player and cock up the pass rather than no support at all.

Pam and I wont be at the match this Saturday either but we hope the lads can keep their winning ways. Winning gives encouragement which in turn builds confidence and if that confidence does NOT turn to complacency then there is everything to play for.

Pam and I plan to be at the Plymouth home game and although the 9th is my working day - as is the 23rd December - I have booked a half day holiday for both days so that I can watch the last two home games before Christmas. So, without any further to do;

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[grooveavenue]

Of course we also forget that Mose had about 2 near tries (or was it 3) when called not grounded.

[southernmose]

Thing is, it wasn't actually *that* poor a performance overall. Well, it obviously was, because neither side did much with the ball when they got it ("two bald men fighting over a comb" was my half time take), but it was more a case, for both sides IMO, that the sum was less than the parts.

If you watch the highlights Mose were pretty good, dogged in defence, putting together some great runs, etc, but it never got them anywhere. Mike Penn did some great running, we wondered whether Mark Harrison had got confused as to which was the touchline(!) - albeit he had no one at all with him - and Buster was everywhere at once. Nevertheless it *felt* like a flat performance from a team riding its luck (and thankfully getting away with it).

Personally I thought it came across as an underestimation of Caldy, followed by panicked backing up when that underestimation sank in.

Oddly, I see that as a positive.... Genuinely, winning breeds confidence. I'm sure we've all got dark memories of seasons where Mose could barely buy a win, and we've just pulled off four on the bounce. It wasn't pretty, and my heart was in my mouth for the last 15 minutes, but I still went home happier than I have from a lot of matches in recent years!

I don't want to be Pollyannaish about it, but there were real things to be cheerful about on Saturday amongst the dross. I'll take winning badly overall as long as it gets the W in the table. Pretty champagne rugby that doesn't get anywhere but looks nice will only get you so far.

Still, onwards and upwards.

[grooveavenue]

Yes southernmose. Your comments capture my feelings. Certainly Caldy could have won but I have to say our defence showed patience in halting the flow....something that may have been missing in recent times and as I said earlier we did have 2 or 3 held ups which would have taken us beyond reachable in the last 15. I agree,too, a real game of rugby is not obliged to create spectacles of text book attacking play.Ask Saris.Often criticised for solid displays of midfield strangling of the opposition in the past....but losing very few games and the rest is history and history in the making. Am I allowed to take us up to Sari talk?

So five on the trot it has to be I'm afraid and in anticipation of zero hour 23.12 ......Was Septs game at The Butts a true reflection on our ability or did we have an issue with...what was it....12 new squad. We need to make an impression but let's leave it at win at home and steal a few on the road...make us all happy fortnightly. I didn't hear RP's club house comments after the game.Any thoughts from that angle?...

[kingsheathlad]

One thing imo is our defence which has been tough to crack over the last few games.

[grooveavenue]

I think that is what I meant to state. Forwards being more dominant with wingers having little space and Penny' seeking breaks from deep. Let's keep right on.....sorry....